rives, followed her to the Cursaal, and
stared at her at the opera. They were quite enthusiastic about her
beauty, and only puzzled to know who this mysterious creature might be
that looked like a queen and dressed like a queen. One averred she was
not Beecher's sister,--the peerage told them that; as little was she his
wife. Then came the other and last alternative. And I had to sit still
and listen to every _pro_ and _con_ of this stupid converse,--their
miserable efforts to reason, or their still more contemptible attempts
to jest, and dare not stand up before them and say, 'Hold your
slanderous tongues, for she is my daughter,' because, to the
first question they would put to me, I must say, 'My name is
Davis--Christopher Davis'--ay, 'Grog Davis,' if they would have it so.
No, no, girl, all your beauty, all your grace, all your fascinations
would not support such a name,--the best horse that ever won the
Derby will break down if you overweight him; and so I had to leave my
breakfast uneaten and come away how I could. For one brief moment I was
irresolute. I felt that if I let them off so easily I 'd pine and fret
over it after, and maybe give way to passion some other time with less
excuse; but my thoughts came back to you, Lizzy, and I said, 'What
signifies about me? I have no object, no goal in life, but her. She must
not be talked of, nor made matter for newspaper gossip. She will one
day or other hold a place at which slander and malevolence only talk in
whispers, and even these must be uttered with secrecy!' I could n't help
laughing as I left the room. One of them declined to eat salad because
it was unwholesome. Little he knew on what a tiny chance it depended
whether that was to be his last breakfast. The devilish pleasure of
turning back and telling him so almost overcame my resolution."

"There was, then, an impropriety in my living at Aix as I did?" asked
Lizzy, calmly.

"The impropriety, as you call it, need not have been notorious,"
said he, in angry confusion. "If people will attract notice by an
ostentatious display,--horses, equipage, costly dressing, and so
on,--the world will talk of them. You could n't know this, but Beecher
did. It was his unthinking folly drew these bad tongues on you. It is a
score he 'll have to settle with me yet."

"But, dearest papa, let me bear the blame that is my due. It was I--I
myself--who encouraged, suggested these extravagances. I fancied myself
possessed of boun